The United States and its European allies have entered into a new era of strategic competition with Russia. Some features of this changed and changing security environment – multipolar geopolitical rivalry and more integrated and subtle approaches to conflict are already apparent. Nuclear weapons and missile defences are taking on new strategic roles. Other features, such as cyber and space weapons, will emerge with time. New factors will interact with traditional political and military approaches to produce a different strategic logic that will shape dynamics during peacetime, crisis and war.
Barzashka will discuss findings from a 3-year research project that developed a new wargaming approach to glean insights into the changing character of conflict among NATO and Russia. She will present evidence-based propositions on nuclear risk, deterrence and escalation from two strategic gaming events conducted at the UK Defence Academy.
Ivanka Barzashka is a founder and co-director of the King’s Wargaming Network. She is a MacArthur-funded Research Associate at the Centre for Science and Security Studies where she examines how disruptive technologies affect nuclear risks by combining qualitative analysis, quantitative modelling and strategic wargaming. She currently leads a project, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, on aerospace defence and nuclear risk focusing on the United States, NATO and Russia. As part of the project, Barzashka directed a series of strategic wargames at King’s College London and the UK Defence Academy during 2017 and 2018. She led the game design process that resulted in a new method of strategic wargaming. 

A sandwich lunch will be served at 12.40.